Two Is A Crowd
by peril
Summary: Cute little story about when young Merry and Pippin try to share a bed at night. NO SLASH


This is my personal favorite :-)! I think it's adorable, but that's probably just because it's my own. Please review!

I don't own anything. Yay for not owning it.

Pippin stuffed his head into the pillow. It would be impossible to sleep this way.

"Merry, get your foot out of my face."

"If first you would get your face out of my foot!"

"You're hogging all the blankets!"

"I don't have a single cover!" 

"Then where is- oh" Pippin shoved Merry's foot away and looked down on the ground. There was the blanket, all up in a heap on the floor.

"I want one, gimme some of the blankets, Pip."

"I've got but one, Merry. And I found it first." Pippin stuck his tongue out at Merry, but the night was too dark to allow Merry to see this.

"Where did all the rest go?"

"Well, Merry, I came to this bed with one, one fell off the bed, and now we still have one. And this one is mine. So find your own!"

"Pippin-" Merry grunted. He sat up. "Fine. I'll go find my own. And I'll bring back a whole bunch. And you will not share the wealth." Pippin sighed and shook his head.

"Stupid Merry." He mumbled.

Merry came back into the room with an evil smirk on his face. He struggled to hold at least three large blankets he had found in another bed. The thought had not occurred to him to just sleep in that bed, as he longed to see the look on Pippin's face when he saw Merry's loot. He could barely see around the load, but he estimated that he was close to the bed and dropped them all in front of it. He could hardly wait to see Pip's face when he saw-

"Pippin!" Pippin was sprawled out on the bed in quiet sleep. Well, not so quiet, as he snored as quietly as farmer Maggot tends to scream in anger. "Move, you donkey dung! It's my bed too!" Pippin did not stir, or rather he smirked evilly in his sleep, much like when the thought of a perfect prank lingered into his grasp.

"Pippin! Move your skinny little arse, will you?" Merry tried to keep his voice below hearing level of his aunt Lanti. Then a thought approached him. Merry was quite amused with his new idea. He looked at his cousin who was still in peaceful slumber on the bed. He carelessly hopped up on the bed and sprawled out over him, Pippin's tiny size making it very easy to smother every bit of the little Took.

Pippin gasped angrily with his rude awakening.

"Merry when did you get so fat? Get off me, I can't breathe!" Merry let out a pretend, loud, obnoxious snore. Pippin wriggled annoyingly, desperately trying to get this monstrosity off him.

After long struggling of young Pippin, Merry lost his balance and fell to the floor. Pippin gasped for breath and started snickering.

"I won." He said smugly. Silence.

"Merry? I won." More silence.

"Merry?" He whispered. He cautiously leaned over to see what his big cousin was up to. Merry grabbed Pippin by the collar and pulled him onto the floor. Merry's big pile of blankets softened the blow, much to his dismay. Nonetheless, Merry leaped onto the bed and quickly stretched himself out to cover every possible inch of the tiny hobbit's bed.

"I won!" 

"Merry, please..." Pippin whimpered. Merry took no sympathy.

Pippin sat devastated. He lost his sleeping spot. Then he realized the large pile of blankets below him. They looked very appealing. He lied down one on the ground for padding, and then sandwiched himself between the rest. He was very pleased with himself. Merry enjoyed every second of his victory. But with silence of his younger cousin he became suspicious. He opened one eye to steal a glance at Pippin, but the sight propped him up very quickly.

"Pippin! Those are my blankets! I got them myself! Get off them!" Just to spite him, Pippin began a long, loud, drawn out snore. Merry lunged at him, knocking the wind out of him. Pippin jumped back up and quickly took advantage of the bed's emptiness. He had no time to enjoy his victory before Merry leaped over him and the young hobbits began wrestling with each other.

A fist met a stomach, and silenced cries of pain met angry grunts. Finally, the two managed to pin each other in a big hobbit ball on the bed.

"I can hold you for forever!"

"Not if you just admit that I WON!"

"I wont let go for a million years if you do not just admit that I, not you, have WON!" About a minute and a half later, the boys got bored. They untangled themselves and rubbed tenderly on their own new cuts and bruises. Pippin crawled to the head of the bed and Merry to the foot.

Merry drew an imaginary line with his finger to suggest their boundaries. 

"This half is mine, and that half is yours. Do not touch my half." Merry stated confidently.

"And do not touch mine." The hobbits nodded. They began to shake hands, but in doing so they would be crossing the lines, and so they recoiled.

Both Merry and Pippin struggled to fit into their own halves. It was near impossible to bunch themselves up in such a way, regardless of how small they were. Pippin looked up and frowned.

"Merry, your half is bigger that mine."

"Is not. Just looks that way because you're smaller."

"No it doesn't, it's simply that YOUR half is definitely larger than MY half."

"Shut up, Pippin."

Pippin sat up and sighed.

"Merry, there is no way that both you and me can be comfy in this bed at the same time."

"You're right, Pip. Get out."

"What? No!"

"You seemed perfectly content earlier when you had my blankets. So I'll trade you. I'll take the bed, and you're welcome to my blankets."

"Why don't I take the bed and YOU take the blankets?"

"Because I'm older and you do what I say."

"Well it's MY bed!"

"Just get out!" Merry hissed. Pippin had never seen him so angry before. He was hurt.

"All right, then..." He said softly, surrendering to Merry's will. Merry was shocked, and felt guilty. Maybe he shouldn't have forced Pippin out of the bed.

Pippin slowly made a bed for himself out of the remaining blankets. It took a while to get warmed up, but he would do his best to get to sleep nonetheless.

Merry still felt guilty. It pained him to do it, but he really hated feeling like he had wronged his best friend. He poked his head over the edge of the bed.

"Hey, Pip, if you really want to, I'll trade you."

Pippin was still hurt. He merely turned to his side, away from the bed.

"It's all right. You stay there. You're older, anyway."

Pippin's words stung a bit. He sounded too sincere for his young self.

"No, Pip. I'll take the blankets. You take the bed. I mean it."

"I mean it too, Merry. You keep the bed. I get it every night. I probably deserve to sleep on the floor for once."

Merry was not going to easily win this fight, either.

"Pippin, I was wrong, and you are right. You should take the bed, and I will sleep on the floor."

"No."

"What?"

"No!"

"Well I want the floor now! And I know you want the bed so why don't we just trade?"

"Because!"

"Fine! Then I will sleep on the floor with you." Merry pulled the blanket down from the bed and set up his own little sleeping area beside Pippin.

The two finally seemed content. Pippin soon drifted off into sleep. Merry sat up a bit later.

"Pippin." He said, nudging him awake. "You have more blankets that me."


End file.
